Everton Top a Premier League Table!

Drinking and football are often two activities that tend to go hand-in-hand. For Everton fans it appears that they enjoy an alcoholic beverage more than their Premier League counterparts. After an uneventful campaign they could be drowning away their sorrows, failing to make an impact at the top end of the Premier League, while being dismissed from the Europa League in the group stage.

The knowledge of the alcohol consumption rates of Premier League football fans has emerged from a footballtips.com survey, asking supporters how many units of alcohol they consume on an average week. Everton were top of the pile at 43 units, three units ahead of their nearest fanbase, Crystal Palace. The ranking of the Toffees could be down to a number of reasons. Maybe there are just better bars and restaurants in the vicinity of Goodison Park than other Premier League grounds. However, given the fact that their nearest and dearest Liverpool are in the middle of the pack on 23 units, this factor might have to be ruled out.

Expectations were high at Everton for the 2017/18 campaign, with some even suggesting that they could finish higher than the Reds in the Premier League. New majority owner Farhad Moshiri invested heavily during the summer, signing Wayne Rooney, Jordan Pickford, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Davy Klaassen and Michael Keane. Romelu Lukaku had left for £75m to join Manchester United, but there was optimism that the Toffees could place higher than the seventh they had managed in the previous term. Their hopes were dashed after being handed a difficult start to the season, losing to Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, Burnley and Arsenal, before Koeman was sacked.

They wilted in the Europa League, losing heavily to Atalanta twice, while Everton also failed to beat Cypriot side Apollon Limassol in a disastrous campaign. David Unsworth steadied the ship somewhat before Sam Allardyce arrived. He got results, but the football was not easy on the eye, to say the least. The arrivals of Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun failed to improve matters in January as Everton finished the campaign in eighth place, behind Burnley and Arsenal in the Europa League spots. Allardyce has left the club, leaving them on the hunt for another new manager.

The study could suggest that the drinking, in a roundabout way, is related to expectations. Crystal Palace fans may have had the same feelings heading into the new term with Frank de Boer in charge. However, the Eagles endured a putrid start to the term, losing their opening eight matches. That dispelled any notion they could look into the top half of the division, despite boasting quality in their ranks. Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United are next on the list in the mid-to-early thirties. Supporters of the Blues would have been hopeful of them repeating their Premier League success, although it did not come to fruition. The frustration of United and Tottenham fans has been palpable as they’ve failed to lift the Premier League crown, even though they’ve spent a great deal of cash and have a great deal of talent.

At the other end of the spectrum, Leicester, Bournemouth and Brighton fans make up the bottom three. Leicester fans consume just four units per week, which suggests they’re more than happy with their lot in life after their Premier League win in 2016. Newly promoted Brighton managed to survive, putting in a number of gritty performances, while Bournemouth have always punched above their weight. Supporters’ expectations could be a link between football fans and drinking, although it may all change next season.

Feature Image: By The original uploader was TheBigJagielka at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons